1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an actuator equipped with a unit that faces secured magnets and moves against the secured magnets, and more particularly, to an actuator to be incorporated into a device such as a mouse used in conjunction with a personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an actuator has coils that face magnets arranged in a flat form, and moves the coils against the magnets by controlling current supplied to the coils. Such an actuator is expected to serve as a novel device that supplies information from computers to operators. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-330688 discloses this type of actuator.
The above actuator can be incorporated into a mouse used in conjunction with a personal computer. Conventionally, a mouse is used simply as an input device that is operated by an operator to input data into a computer. However, with the above actuator incorporated into a mouse, various types of information can be supplied to an operator through the actuator being vibrated by transmitting various signals from the computer to the mouse. In such a case, the conventional mouse can serve as a man-machine interface.
In a case where the above actuator is incorporated into a conventional device such as a mouse, however, it is necessary to keep enough space for magnets and coils. As the number of components increases, the structure becomes more complicated, and the assembling becomes more difficult. Furthermore, the production costs increase as those problems arise.